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The Arcturus Missions

Part Seventy Eight - Understanding Goals

Part Seventy Seven

———

After the ASVAB, the armed services vocational aptitude battery, the entrance exam for the United States militaries, the recruit goes onto basic training for their given branch.

In the Army, the recruit goes to BCT or basic combat training whether in the traditional army, reserves, or national guard. Basic combat training is one part of initial entry training (IET) of Army training, the other being advanced individual training or AIT.

When a recruit is able to do both sections of IET at one location, it is referred to as One Station Unit Training, where they will spend 22 weeks in the total duration of their program.

Infantry go to Fort Benning in Georgia, re-named after Corporal Fred G. Benning for his heroics in World War 1. Other occupations in the military are split among Fort Jackson in South Carolina, Fort Sill in Oklahoma, and Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri.

Typically, AIT is the remainder of basic training which is defined by a trainees MOS or military occupational specialty which can last between four to seven months. Or more for foreign language training when necessary.

It is at the end of all of this, that the trainee earns the title of soldier.

Military training processes are similar across the board for the world, though mandatory and voluntary shift the timelines, as well as the expectations.

—

Even if he couldn’t remember everything from when he was human, there were a few things he could remember. Like the difference between his dreams and his hallucinations from both the overuse and his crash.

For one, he had never dreamed in color, it was always black and white, which was why his hallucinations had been so damn hard to realize, because they felt so real. Everything looked and felt really in those horrific seconds. His hallucinations had been awful, but he’d never liked calling them that, the moments when memories would overtake the reality of his day but that’s what Ratchet called them.

Or had. That was one thing he’d yet to experience again, and with the fact it was connected to something he no longer was, maybe wouldn’t again but this was coming into a close second.

His dreams were weird, to put it mildly, at first it was because they were in color and certainly filled with colors only his cybertronian eyes would have been able to see. Then it was because in these dreams, he was human again.

It had only been a couple of days that he had been Cybertronian, maybe five or six at this point, he wasn’t sure; but to dream of being human felt weird and almost wrong now. One thing was similar though, it felt like it was actually happening.

Looking down at his hands and rubbing his fingers together, he could feel it, more strongly than when in the throws of overuse, sighing a bit he turned and froze.

It was the beach, with his mother, her hand up in the air and waving, a smile shining for the first time in months, “What do you have there honey?” Grinning, he lifted the faded red piece of metal where the tones from the mixed paint caught his eyes, “It’s a piece of an old mech suit! Can I keep it?” Her laughter carried down the beach, “I think we have to!”

Running down the beach, he carried the piece of metal with him, the embossed star map burned into his mind through the feel or it rather than the sight of it. Mostly because the piece of metal had sat in a shadow box longer than he’d held it for by a lifetime.

Shooting upright, he struggled to breathe.

The apartment was dark and almost silent, aside from his struggling breaths and Ratchet’s snoring, but the feeling was weird as he couldn’t bring himself to open his eyes. Yet, he could tell where Deadlocka and Ratchet were without having to open them.

Clutching his blanket, it took a lot for him to actually open his eyes and blink against the light they made. He took a few more shaky breaths and looked around the incredibly dark room.

He was on one of the slabs in the bedroom, the human quarters to his left where they lined the window and another slab to his right where Deadlock was in fact dead to the world. This bed usually belongs to Prowl and it will be a hell of a time fitting a third one into the room. Maybe he’d make a space in the living room or something.

With a deep and tired sigh, he rolled over and hauled his blanket back over his shoulders. He still slept like a human, that was for sure.

Laying there for another few seconds, he drew the mesh over his head and closed his eyes. Trying to get himself back to sleep for at least a few more hours, if all went according to plan, he’d have a busy day in the morning.

It was the sunshine that woke him up, humming deeply and stopping himself from groaning when he stretched, plating shifting against his protoform, it felt like waking up in his assistance suit. His dreams had been of basic training, which was very fitting. Sitting up, he rubbed his eyes then.

With the blind pulled up from the window, he could see out onto Iacon from his bed. Sure, he’d been able to do so from his cot too but this felt different. Everything felt different.

Swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, or slab, he glanced around the room. No one was there. Pushing off the slab, he almost kept his blanket around himself but he threw it back across the slab before heading out the door.

The lights in the living room were almost painfully bright and he groaned a bit, covering his incredibly pale eyes from it, “Damn.” It reminded him of a doctor's office, “Good morning, I guess.” Ratchet chuckled from the coffee table as he moved towards the kitchen, desperate for some water.

“Try to have some energon this morning, would you?” Deadlock sounded like his mother and he tried not to scowl as he got himself a cube of water, “I’ll get to it at some point, Knockout left me with those patches so it’s not like I’ll starve.” Moving back into the living room, he sat down on the uncomfortable sofa.

Sipping his water, he sighed, “So, Deadlock, do you know anything about the Cybertronian military?” The sound of a cracking cube almost brought a smile to his face as he sipped his water, “Why?” It sounded more accusatory.

He couldn’t help but shrug a bit as he finished his water, “Because I’m heading to enlist, uh, again.” Standing, he set the cup down as Ratchet made a strangled noise, “We just got you back Hound!” The medic paused, “Harold, you can’t be serious about this.” The name tugged at memory but he just sighed.

”I’m not exactly Harold Jackson anymore Ratch, and besides, I was sent back for a reason.” Ratchet shook his head quickly, “Not this, not for this fucking war that we’ve all got sucked into.” Sighed a bit, Hound shrugged again, “I swore to everyone that I’d put a stop to this fight, for Earth. Just because I’m not entirely human anymore doesn’t mean I can break my promise Doc. If anything, it means I have to keep it.” The look in Ratchet’s eyes almost tore his heart out.

Gulping slightly, he shuffled his feet a bit, “Maybe when the war is over, I’ll get a chance at peace, but right now isn’t that time.” This time, Ratchet stood to speak, still coming nowhere near eye level with him, “You don’t even remember everything yet.”

There was a connotation there, everyone, he didn’t remember everyone and it made his throat tight.

But he took a breath, “Ratchet, I’m not gonna remember everything. Some god said so, and I don’t take to questioning deities that shoved me into a new body. Look,” Moving over, he sat back down, so that they would at least be closer to eye level.

“If I don’t go, they’ll try to keep me out of this fight, our fight, my fight. One I already died for once, on a planet I’m not even from.” Though that could be argued now, with his new state, he was feeling lighter with every word though, “I might not remember it well, but I know when you all got here I was so mad.” He couldn’t suppress the chuckle as Ratchet tried to shake his head, “Yes, I was Ratch and if what little memory I have can serve me, I was livid.”

Pausing for a moment, he gestured to Deadlock, “We hated each other, I don’t even know when we stopped, but we did. Look, if I can help in this fight and keep all of you from my fate, I’d call that a good life.” His voice grew quiet as tears came to his eyes, he wasn’t even entirely sure why, but he sucked in a breath.

”I don’t just gotta do it, Ratch, I want to. I want to be in the fight.” There was no denying how he felt, which was an envy every time he looked up at the stars, knowing that there was a fight somewhere out of his view he could be helping in, “Please, please understand.”

Hound didn’t realize he was holding his breath until he let it out as Ratchet nodded, “Even as a whole new person, you’re still you Hound. God, you’re still you and I hate it. Not because I hate you kid, but because you’re just that, so young even now when you’re younger. You probably gave your old man so many heart attacks.” Chuckling a bit, Hound nodded.

Though he couldn’t remember if had or not, and he didn’t want to remember.

Pushing off the couch, he sighed, “So, I’ll be back later, hopefully.” Ratchet scowled, “Not funny.” Smiling a bit, he shrugged, “Wasn’t supposed to be.” Deadlock sighed and pushed off the couch, “Alright, then lets go.” He almost wanted to scowl, he didn’t need a babysitter, but from the look that Deadlock and Ratchet exchanged, they certainly thought he did.

Sighing, he checked the hall first before exiting the apartment, Deadlock right behind him.

“I think this is a bad idea, Hound, but I understand why you are doing it.” Deadlock’s voice was quiet as they took the stairs down, nodding a bit he sighed, “If it wasn’t my only shot at this, I probably wouldn’t be doing it. But I mean, do you honestly think they’ll let me finish my mission otherwise?”

Scoffing a bit, Deadlock shook his head, “You pilots and your missions, you're as bad as me.” He was smiling though and nodding, Hound chuckled, “Yeah, I bet.” The sunshine in Iacon still hurt his eyes, and he reached a hand up to block it a bit.

He wished he had his sunglasses, which were in his footlocker, on Earth and they wouldn’t fit his face. Sighing deeply, he watched his feet instead.

—

Maybe it was because they hadn’t been back to Cybertron in a while, or maybe he was just tired, but honestly all he wanted was to be left alone. Course with his unit, no one couldn’t have a single minute of goddamned peace without someone trying to get someone else’s attention for something probably stupid.

It made him want to put his head through a wall.

If he had it his way, he’d be asleep on the shuttle right now, away from everyone and out of the worst of the cold.

But no.

He was here, trying to fix his and Arcee’s heater while the others were trying to thaw their energon.

If he wasn’t wearing multiple layers and had turned the heat in his suit up, he would probably be shivering. Though the blanket across his legs and another around his shoulders was helping with part of that.

Even if he usually preferred to pilot standing, in what little space he had, it was just too cold to do so here.

He’d even given his electric heating pad to Cee, a while ago actually, so he was glad she wouldn’t be terribly cold. Even if he was freezing his balls off.

The heater was off and it was refusing to come back on, which was why he had it in pieces at this point. He was the only person in their group with more than a weeks worth of experience in fixing anything, so it usually came down to him to fix this stuff. Though this particular heater was just being stubborn.

Normally, it was a fried wire or just needed to be cleaned, but now he had the whole thing in pieces and still didn’t know what the problem was. Sitting back on his heels, he couldn’t help the deep sigh that escaped him, glancing towards the others.

Twinges of jealousy skidded up his back, most of the unit was sitting around eating and laughing, except for Elita and Arcee. Those two were becoming thick as thieves and then he was repairing the heater.

Sure, he and Elita had had most of these conversations in the past that the two of them were having, but he couldn’t help how he felt and Cee was one of his best friends.

But damnit, there were other people she could talk to, like Chromia or Nickel even. She had adapted to spending time with Cybertronians much faster than he had and Elita was different. Not just because she knew, but because she was always there for him, usually.

He also kind of missed being the only human in the group, not for the reasons that he’d have thought of but no, he missed being able to say anything without his translator and not being called out on it. Now, he never said anything horrific or inappropriate for him to say, but he swore a lot with his translator off.

It was driving him crazy and he honestly felt like he was slowly losing his mind, just enough to make repairing this damn heater unbearable.

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if Chromia or Elita were at his side, but one was eating and the other was with Arcee. No, he was out here alone to suffer with his thoughts that clawed at his throat.

God, he felt pathetic.

Sighing deeply, he started to put the heater back together, cleaning each piece as he went.

Time felt like it dragged, at least until Chromia came over and patted his shoulder, on her way to taking up her vantage place some twenty feet behind him, “How’s the rebuild going?” Shrugging a bit, he swore, “Like shit. I still don’t know why it wasn’t working and won’t know if it’ll work until it’s back together.” She nodded, sighing.

“Sometimes they just give up, we’ve been using them a lot lately, this one might have a few more cycles on it than the others.” Gritting his teeth, he nodded and forced a piece back into place, “Yeah, I know. They should be labeled.” Chuckling, she nodded before sitting down next to him, “They should, but at some point Skids would take the labels off and you’d have to start all over.” He tried not to groan.

Knowing she was right, he nodded again, “Then when we can require new ones, I will scratch the date into the side.” The shudder that ran up her back was audible and almost made him laugh, almost, “Right, sorry.” Shaking her head, she sighed and shifted her grip on her gun, “It’s alright, besides, if it keeps even one of us sane it could be worse.”

Nodding a bit, he caught his tongue between his teeth before sighing, “How is?” Sides knew he didn’t need to get the whole question out anymore, at least in part because Chromia loved the excuse.

A smile overtook her face as she stood, resting a hand on his shoulder, “Sunny is doing fine, Hide misses me.” Scoffing, he shook his head a bit, “Am I supposed to be surprised?" The shove was a light hearted one that brought a smile to his face, “Laugh it up Sides, but remember.” Nodding a bit, he chuckles as he bent back to the still very broken heater as Chromia moved to take her watch shift, somewhere about twenty or so feet behind him.

Sighing deeply, he bent his head to the work, the sooner it was done the sooner he’d be warm again.

The quiet returned in the way he hated it most, one that hung and dragged him back down. Any bit of comfort Chromia had brought was being washed away like a rouge wave.

He’d be lying if he said he didn’t miss being the only human in the unit, if it wasn’t just for some of his exclusive time to talk with Elita. She understood how much he hated being alone, and had argued a number of times that he and Sunny should have remained together, but that would have never worked in the long term. He knows that, but in the moments like this where he questions why Arcee wasn’t placed on her own.

Everyone in this unit was close and pretty tight knit, Chromia had just proven that and she was great, there was no denying that. She was close to him and her conjunx was incredibly close to Sunny, so that made some things easier in the distance.

But she wasn’t Elita.

Who talking to came so naturally and easily.

The woman he’d accidentally called mon… too many times. God and now, it was like Arcee had just found that place and pushed him out enough to make him irritated.

Now, Arcee did actually need the help. She’d never done anything like this, she’d barely gotten out of the rescue class when the Arcturus missions even came about, but it didn’t change his jealousy.

Sighing and slamming the last piece in place, he tested the heater before starting to reattach the front panel. It was a hunk of junk, but it was at least a functional hunk of junk now.

Their laughter carried over to him as he stood and dragged the heater towards the little lean-to shelters they had, “Alright ladies and gents, I got this piece of crap working.” The cheers almost made him smile, shoving it into place and adjusting Nickel’s mat so she would be closest to it, he adjusted the settings and sighed again.

If he never worked on another heater in his life, it would probably be too soon.

Sitting down next to Moonracer, he sat back against one of the posts and crossed his arms, glancing towards where Elita and Arcee were still talking. A few of the others were still over there too.

Closing his eyes and leaning his head back, he tried relaxed breathing. It was something Sunny did. It had never once helped him.

Maybe he’d lost track of time, or fell asleep, he wasn’t sure but he jumped up right and nearly smacked his head on the tent. Elita was quick to shush him and rested a hand on his shoulder, “Easy, it’s just me.” Nodding a bit, he ducked under the edge and moved outside.

Acree moved in to take his place, slumping quickly, and he looked to Elita, “Night watch?” When she nodded a bit, he tried not to groan, moving to follow as Chromia moved past them too.

Rubbing at his eyes tiredly, he yawned and stretched as they settled down in the one real watch point they had. Elita shifted to set up her monitor of the cameras in the nearby forest and on top of the shuttle.

He settled into a position that he’d be able to attack from, shifting his blanket closer around him, not caring if Elita noticed now. She knew and that wasn’t a problem at all.

”Are you cold?” Shrugging a bit, he started to watch the horizon, “Only a bit, with the heater not working very well, my suit can just barely keep up.” She hummed but shifted closer anyways, “We’ll be leaving this planet soon, once the barrier is installed we’re supposed to rotate to Cybertron.” He couldn’t suppress the scoff.

Chuckling a bit, she nodded, “I know. I know. Megatron is just trying to get this in place as fast as he can, we don’t have to agree with his methods, we just have to do it.” That brought a chuckle out of him.

Elita smiled, “I haven’t heard you make that noise in a while. You’ve been… distant.” His blood ran cold, shrugging again, it took everything in him to not shift away, “We’ve been really busy and you’ve been busy helping Arcee.” She hummed, “There it is.” Rolling his eyes, his face burned.

“You do realize that she is just asking advice, like you had, about all of this.” Nodding again, he rubbed his neck, “Of course I know that, but still. You have to admit things are different now that there are two of us.” Elita paused before nodding, “And knowing.” His mouth went dry, “Yes, and knowing.”

It had been hard, her knowing, it had made things different, horribly so.

His throat tightened a bit, “You used to sit with me when I was repairing stuff.” His voice came out quieter than he would have liked, shrugging a bit, “And I’ve been fixing a lot of stuff alone the last couple of months. It’s just hard, okay?” Elita hummed before she moved closer.

Putting her arm around him, she kept her voice down too, “Sideswipe, once Arcee is trained up, it’s likely she and Moonracer will be moved to another unit.” That caught him entirely by surprise, “What? Why? Racer is one of our best.” Though nodding, there was a look in Elita’s eye, “Yeah, but Megatron lost his best two sharpshooters recently and we can get by with what we’ve got.”

He was gaping and struggling for words, “But… But where will Arcee go? Megatron said he didn’t want to work with any other humans.” When Elita nodded a bit, he struggled to breathe, “She is good at this part of the job, but according to the simulations, she’ll be great at rescue.”

Nodding a bit, he tried to say something, “She was a rescue class on Earth, at least for the first few years of her career.” Nodding again, Elita smiled, “That’s what she mentioned and we’re looking to put together a new rescue team. We had those before the last war but most of them joined up or left. Now we need someone with medics and professional rescuers to go around to all our spread out units. Especially once we have this big barrier in place. Small teams like ours will be limited to either one medic or someone with basic training. Then the larger units will only have one medic instead of three or more.”

Shrugging a bit, she sighed slowly, “I think she’d be a great fit on a rescue team Sides, especially if that medic of yours joins one. Optimus is thinking about it.” His brain stopped working.

”Ratchet, on a rescue team.” She nodded again, humming, “I know he isn’t exactly a pilot, but him and Knockout would probably work well together for a unit like ours or Ironhide’s.” Yeah, his brain really was having a hard time picturing that.

Shaking his head slowly, he chuckled, “Yeah, that will go down like a led balloon commander.” She laughed and nodded, “I know, it’ll be great.” Smiling a bit, he sat back and looked up at the clearing sky.

“The stars are pretty.” He kept his voice down, sitting there with Elita. Night watch was neither of their strong suits, but he was grateful for the time together even as his mind raced, anxiety tearing at his throat.

Just because he wanted time with Elita, doesn’t mean he wanted to see Arcee gone, or Moonracer.

———

A/N

So, this chapter was originally going to be much longer, but instead I am breaking it into two because I can. So, look forward to next week. Also, I’ll have to post some stuff I’ve gotten to do in the last couple of weeks, my obsession with the 80’s isn’t just limited to transformers. Haha.

Anyways, I hope you all enjoy!

TAGS

@pixillandjester @goddessofwind8water @pixel-transformers @cleverthingrascalduck-blog @twilightfreefaller @aquaioart @artdagz @leethepiper @cosmique-oddity @spring-mc @coconut12172 @ask-glory-haddock-and-others @starwold @bird599 @sadmossball @0000julia @elegantmantaray @moldyfoxboi @ratatatata248 @fooolisher @lyceenjps @minniethemoocherda @prophaneprophet @eldritchmeal @wonderdogcreator @ruby-myth-dreamer @searchingforthelamps

Welcome to my updated Masterlist! If your name is not on here and you would like to be added, let me know!

As always, thank you @/Keferon for the initial AU

#morning reblog #transformers #macaddam #tf mecha universe #tf mecha au #mecha pilot au #mech pilot Jazz AU #mecha pilot jazz au #the Arcturus missions #Arcturus AU